Westboro's Fred Phelps Came Out 'In Support Of The Homosexuals,' Says Grandson

By
On Top Magazine Staff
Published:
May 24, 2014

Zacharias Phelps-Roper, the grandson of
Fred Phelps, told HuffPost Live that his grandfather came out “in
support of the homosexuals” on the day he was excommunicated from
the anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church he founded.

Last year, Aaron Jackson's charity
Planting Peace purchased a house across from the Westboro Baptist
Church and painted it rainbow colors to symbolize gay pride. Jackson
said that Equality House sent a message “that where there's hate,
there's also love.”

On Thursday, Equality House posted a
statement from Phelps-Roper on its Facebook page.

“Fred W. Phelps, my grandfather, came
out in support of the Equality House before he was voted out of WBC,”
Phelps-Roper
said.

"Specifically, on the day that he was
excommunicated, he stood outside of the front door of the church (but
not within anyone's earshot but a few members of WBC who happened to
be in the immediate vicinity)... I say, he spoke words to this effect
to the Equality House: 'You are good people.'”

“I feel like he had a change of heart
after my grandmother nearly passed away, and he felt the pangs of
loss ... he waited for news of her every day and night while she was
in intensive care. I think this triggered a chain reaction whereby
he developed great empathy for others... which would explain why he
would support Planting Peace's anti-suicide and anti-bullying
platforms, and their charities across the world....”

“I love my grandfather! And I
believe people DO change, if they are inspired enough.”

In an appearance on HuffPost Live,
Phelps-Roper, 23, added that he believes his grandfather “got over
that [homophobia].”

“I don't think he hated homosexuals
by that point,” he told host Marc Lamont Hill. “Planting Peace,
you know, the fact that it's a rainbow house kind of implies that
maybe there is a homosexual connection there. So yeah, I figure that
he was supporting them too. The day that he was excommunicated my
family took great notice of that and they called it rank blasphemy
that he was coming out in support of the homosexuals.”